Ten Rules to Owning A Sam Braddock
by The Carrot
Summary: Ten things our favorite female sniper should know about Sam all wrapped up in one brown envelope courtesy of one of his old army friends. Slight SamxJules. One-Shot turned two shot turned story.
1. Letters

"Bill, bill, junk, junk, flyer, Dad, flyer...Hello, what's this?"

Jules frowned as she looked down at the dark brown envelope in her hand along with all her other mail. It had no return address on it, just her full name in a messy scrawl she didn't recognize across the front of it. Looking around her front porch the female sniper frowned. Was it from one of her neighbours? Shifting all her mail into one hand the brunette unlocked her front door keeping her gaze on the strange envelope.

Leaving her bag by the door, Jules headed to her kitchen throwing all the other mail onto the counter before grabbing a beer from her fridge and peeling the gold sticker off the back to open the letter. Brown eyes widened as two folded up pieces of paper fell out into her hand. Tossing the envelope aside she looked over the folded pieces of paper seeing a number one in the corner of the smaller piece of paper and a two on the other.

Was that the order she was supposed to read them in? Jules frown deepened. Was this somebody's idea of a joke or something? What if it was a stalker or something? Her hand paused as she went to unfold the first page but the female sniper quickly shook herself of the notion as she finished opening the piece of paper. Anyone trying to stalk her would be crazy. Not only would they have her guns to deal with, but Ed's, Greg's, and the others too.

Flattening the paper out in her grasp she looked over the letter.

_** Julianna Callaghan,**_

_**You have recently found yourself in the possession of something very important and priceless to us. (You don't need to worry over who 'us' is,) just know that we hold the**_

_** safety and well being of said possession above all else, and as such, we have enclosed a list of ten rules that you should be followed to the utmost so we don't have to come after the Strategic Response Unit, Team One. **_

_**And remember, we hold Sam Braddock in a very high regard so you would do well to not screw up in caring for him!**_

_** K. Wagner**_

Jules stared at the scrawl as it almost leapt off the page and attacked her. Whoever this person 'K. Wagner' person was, they obviously knew Sam... And cared about him… in a strange, slightly creepy way.

Setting the small letter down she picked up the other piece of paper, almost afraid of what the list of rules might be. She bit her lip as the person's messy writing continued onto page number two.

_**Ten Rules to Owning a Sam Braddock **_

_**Rule #1: **__Don't doubt his aim -__ Don't even think it!!_

_**Rule #2:**__Don't let him cook -__ This is self explanatory. Our dearest Braddock is used to going long periods of time without substance, so the need to learn how to cook has never been a priority. For his self preservation and possibly yours, heed this rule._

_**Rule #3:**__Don't let him start fires -__ ...Again, don't even think it. Way too dangerous._

_**Rule #4:**__Don't let him drink the worm -__ Whilst tequila may be good for the soul, and our dearest blondes drink per choice, it is best to avoid ingestion of the insect at the bottom. Especially after half the bottle... it makes him very grouchy._

_**Rule #5:**__He must be taken out for daily walks -__ Energy has been known to build up quickly in our dearest Sam Braddock. Running has been proven to be the best outlet for this problem; other activities, excluding swimming, skydiving, skating, snowboarding and/or skiing, work well also. Try taking him out to a near-by beach for a run, the sand seems to wear him out faster._

_**Rule #6:**__Keep him away from Birds (parrots), monkeys, fish, and any other strange exotic animals -_Birds_ are known to attack our mild mannered Sam, even unprovoked. Parrots, African Gray's especially, are known to be extremely hard on him. Monkeys... There was this time in Madagascar... but we're not allowed to talk about that any more. _

_**Rule #7:**__Avoid Christmas Carols -__ Especially in July... I still think throwing that CD down that canyon was a bit much._

_**Rule #8:**__Keep him away from airports -__ Several bad experiences have allowed us to come to the conclusion that Sam, guns/bombs and airports together should be avoided at all costs._

_**Rule #9:**__Be straightforward -__ With the great ability of knowing when someone is bullshitting him; the Sam Braddock will then be forced to force the truth from you. Kind of like Chuck Norris... but prettier._

The brunette frowned when her list stopped short. Didn't the letter say ten rules? Looking over the list again Jules couldn't help but shake her head. She was going to have a lot of questions for a certain rookie tomorrow.

XxX

The heels of her boots scuffed against the floor as Jules made her way towards the conference room where Ed and Greg were sitting. As she appeared in the doorway she saw the rest of the team sitting there with them, minus the blonde she was looking for. "Hey guys," she greeted. "Have any of you seen Sam yet?"

Ed glanced up at her with a nod. "He showed up a bit late, he's still changing." He watched with a smile as the woman turned back around when his eyes landed on the folded up letter in her hand. "Jules?" The female sniper paused, looking back at the team leader. "What's that you got there? Some sort of love note?" he teased.

Jules rolled her eyes holding the letter she had gotten in the mail the day before up for the bald man to see not really seeing the way Ed's eyes widened. "Not quiet." he passed him the chocolate brown paper.

The older man took it not bothering to open it. "Let me guess, 'Ten Rule to Owning a Sam Braddock', right?"

"H-how did you know?" Jules asked gazing down at her boss confused.

The lead sniper dug in his front jacket pocket before pulling out an identical paper to the one Jules had passed him. "Soph gave it to me this morning; I read it on the way to work."

Beside him Parker frowned pulling out a brown slip of paper from his pants pocket. "I got one too, it came in the mail yesterday." he tossed it onto the glass table in front of him.

The three paper wielders exchanged glances before turning to Wordy, Lou and Spike, each who had dug out the same brown paper from their pockets.

"I personally like Rule #6." Spike smirked opening his letter. "The fact that whoever sent this didn't clarify on the monkey thing, kind of makes me want to ask Sam about it."

Wordy chuckled. "I liked ten."

Jules perked up at this. "You guys have a number ten?" Nods around the room made her raise an eyebrow and move to stand behind Spike to read. "My letter stopped at nine."

"Maybe whoever wrote it got a hand cramp." Lou stated. "Six letters all hand written, somebody, somewhere has got to be feeling that."

Taking the brown paper from Spike Jules read the tenth line aloud. "_'__**Rule #10:**__ Do not feed after midnight (he'll go evil)," _her eyebrow just about disappeared into her bangs. _"Don't get him wet (he'll breed!), and don't leave him in direct sunlight (he'll explode!!!).'_ What the-?"

"It's from the Gremlins movie." The Italian clarified as he snatched his letter back. "Those are the rules for keeping the furry little bastards all cute and cuddly."

"Right..." Jules muttered. "But why would this K. Wagner person send up these letters about Sam?"

Nobody got the chance to answer her as the topic of their conversation and letters came strolling through the door, not quiet awake.

"Hey Boss, sorry I ran a bit late this morning, I..." Sam trailed off as he looked around at his teammates who were all staring at him. "Uh... is everything okay?"

Ed held up the brown piece of paper in his hand towards the blonde. "You want to explain this?"

"What is it?" he asked stepping further into the room to take the letter.

Greg watched as Sams eyebrow twitched knowing that the blonde recognized the writing. The lead negotiator watched the rookie intently as a blush crept up his neck.

"Did you all get one of these?" Sam glanced around the room seeing all the similar papers. He set the letter back on the table not answering the curious glances shot in his direction. "Excuse me for a minute..." The sniper hissed. "I have a friend to go strangle."

The rest of Team one watched as he dug his phone out of his pocket while heading for the exit. Never ones to miss out on a chance to annoy one another, the rest of them were out of their seats following Sam back down towards the men's locker room.

XxX

Sam punched the familiar number into his phone, his finger twitching as he waited for the other person to pick up. He didn't have to wait long, on the fourth ring an extremely tired female voice rang into his ear.

"This better be a major fucking emergency Braddock. I just got to sleep."

Fighting down the smirk Sam rolled his eyes. He had almost forgotten about the time difference...almost. He defiantly wasn't calling now out of spite. Turning up the volume on his phone to hear better he finally spoke up. "Why the hell did you send them those letters?"

The woman on the other line paused. "Oh." her voice was more awake now, tinted with amusement. "Did they all really get them at the same time?"

"Kate-"

"Oh jeez, relax Sam, We didn't put anything too incriminating in them."

Sam rolled his eyes, not missing the sound of the others hiding behind the row of lockers beside him. "Who was it that helped you?"

"Al sent us the rule about the Christmas carols; she's still bitter about that I think. And Rob and Jake helped with the fire, cooking and the airport rules. The rest were mine."

"Remind me to thank you when you get back on this side of the globe."

"Ohh, snark, I like it. Okay, I will defiantly forget to remind you about this when I get home so you don't turn around and throw us down the canyon like you did to poor Bing Crosby." he heard the woman yawn.

"How long has it been since you slept?" The blonde questioned leaning against the sink.

"For more then twenty minutes?" Kate paused. "Probably about five days."

Sam shook his head. "You should have used the time you had to sleep instead of writing those letters."

"Har, har, very funny Mr. B.O.B." Sam winced at the nickname. "Besides, I could have went in depth about the whole monkey att-"

"No!" the blonde snapped knowing the others were listening. "You couldn't have. We agreed that that story stays in that damn forest."

Kate laughed which was something she hadn't done in a while. "Only you Sam, only you."

There was a moment of silence and the blonde turned his phone back down and lowered his voice. "You doing alright?"

"...It has its moments." He heard her sigh. "With you and Matt no longer here, Alice away doing something or other and no more Dave...it's been pretty hard."

Sam chewed on his bottom lip, the proper words not really coming to him. As if there actually were proper words for missing your friends. "You home soon?"

"Another three weeks." she replied another yawn coming from his phone. "Then your ass is mine and you're going to introduce me to all those people I wrote incriminating letters too." Another yawn.

"Alright, alright, Just go back to bed Kate." Sam stated pushing himself off the sink. "Sorry I woke you."

"Meh, what are friends for if not for the random calls around three in the morning?" Kate joked. "But really, you don't have to wait until I send out letters to call Sam."

The blonde grimaced. "I know, I just never know if you're going to be there to pick up or not." He dropped his voice low enough so his teammates couldn't hear him.

"Try anyways." Kate snapped. "Now, I'm going back to bed before Howlett finds out I'm awake."

"Good night Kate."

He heard the woman chuckle before stating in a much too loud tone. "Oh and Sam, just be glad I never wrote in those letters about you and Matt and a certain Halloween party-"

Click. Sam hit the end button on his phone cutting off the other woman as he glowered at his mobile. "We're not going anywhere near that subject for a very long time." Sighing heavily the sniper felt his shoulders sag as he leant sideways to look around the lockers in front of him. "Are you guys just going to try and hide behind the lockers until I leave?"

He watched as they all stepped out sheepishly from their hiding spot.

Jules was the first to open her mouth. "What Halloween party was she talking about?"

"And who exactly was she?" Ed nodded his head towards the phone in Sam's hand.

"Never mind that," Spike laughed waving off his boss's question. "I want to know more about those monkeys."

Sam growled in the back of his throat. "We're not talking about the damn monkeys Spike."

The Italian cocked his head to one side before darting forward and snatching the mobile in Sam's hand. "Well, maybe we'll just have to ask your friend here."

Ed and Greg exchanged amused glances as Sam shot after the taller man several curses leaving his mouth as he did so.

Jules watched as the rest of the team made their way after Sam and Spike leaving her standing in the middle of the men's locker room by herself. Lifting her letter up her brown eyes scanned the paper in her grasp. After the conversation that had just taken place on the phone it was easy to see…read just how much that, that Kate Wagner person cared about their new rookie.

She smiled to herself remembering the look of utter embarrassment on Sam's face in the conference room when he first read over the letters. Jules stored the image away in the back of her mind, possibly for later blackmail use, or in worse case scenario, use to comfort the horrible feelings she got whenever she thought of how things might have been if it had worked out between her and Sam.

The female sniper let her gaze linger on the lines where the number ten rule should have been, the empty space bugging her. Why hadn't she gotten the creepy movie reference too as a rule too? Jules let out a heavy sigh, blowing the bangs out of her eyes before she slipped her letter into her back pocket and headed out of the locker room.

XxX

The next day a familiar brunette sorted through her mail as she stood on her front porch after a long day at work.

"Bill, flyer, junk, flyer, jun-" Jules froze as she looked down into her pile of mail, once more shocked at the chocolate coloured envelope sitting in her hand. Dropping her other mail back into the box, Jules tore open the gold sticker on the back and pulled out a single piece of crisp white paper.

On it, in Kate's messy scrawl the message was clear.

'_Rule #10: DO NOT BREAK HIS HEART OR WE WILL BREAK YOU!'_

* * *

Okay, I couldn't help myself with the last line. XD This is my first attempt at Sam and Jules together so please don't kill me. I've only seen the first season and a couple of episodes of the second. Heh, 'Clean Hands' amused me…

If you can find it in your heart hit the little green button! Tell me if you liked it or hated it, anything really. Thanks!


	2. Two and a Half Weeks

So… I really couldn't resist writing a bit more to this…

Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews. I hope I don't disappoint with this and the upcoming chapters. It may be confusing to read and I understand that, and I'm sorry. ^_^ Hopefully it'll become more clear as the story progresses.

I do not own Flashpoint, sadly, but Kate, Howlett and any other characters mentioned that you don't recognize are mine too. Take them and Kate will stab you.

* * *

Sam let the door swing shut behind him as he left the SRU building. Ed, Greg and the others came out a few moments after him, all chatting happily about how they had managed to save the teenager today. The young high school student had brought a gun to school when he could no longer take the bullying, but when it hadn't worked he had turned the gun on himself, threatening to end his own life to stop the pain.

Thankfully Greg had worked his magic and another life had been saved. Sam had watched the entire thing through his scope from his spot cross legged on the roof of the gymnasium, rifle in hand just in case the teen had escalated. The blonde sighed as he worked the kink out in his neck, thinking of walking home instead of taking his bike; but the thought of having to walk to work the next day so early in the morning had him digging the keys to his bike lock out of his pants.

Said keys, however, hit the ground as a sharp voice rang through the parking lot.

"SAMUEL CHRISTOPHER BRADDOCK!"

The blonde sniper felt his hand twitch as he whipped around to see a brown haired woman standing next to an old beat up red truck. She was grinning from ear to ear, her cheeks red from the cold winter air which she had been standing out in for a while, waiting for him. The brunette strode towards him pulling her black coat closer to her with her left hand as the right sleeve fluttered out behind her empty.

Beside their respective vehicles the rest of team one paused at the shout and turned to see what the commotion was about.

Sam felt his mouth open and close a few times before he could actually get anything resembling words out of his throat. "But... you… I thought," he shut his mouth a smile breaking out on his face for the first time that day. The woman just laughed as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "I thought you said three weeks?"

The brunette shrugged. "Howlett let us off for good behaviour." A disbelieving laugh. "Heh, okay, so maybe I rushed the mission along a bit so I could come home early."

"Kate, I'm surprised you still have a job." Sam laughed as he let go of her.

Placing her only hand on her hip the woman glared at him. "I'll have you know I am very good at what I do."

"Stabbing people in the back when they aren't expecting you?" Sam smirked. "I know."

She punched him in the arm lightly before out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of the other officers. "Hey, is that the rest of the SRU?"

Sam glanced over at his team mates. "They make up the rest of Team One, yeah," before he could finish Kate sidestepped him and started towards the group. The blonde jumped lightly before darting after her. "Hey now!" he grabbed her empty sleeve and tugged her back away from them. He really didn't want her to talk to them, if her letters were any indication, he'd have a hell of a time re-building his reputation if she did.

"Come on, I just want to meet them." Kate rolled her eyes pulling against him. "Stop being such a baby-Whaa!"

Ed watched in amusement as Sam wrapped an arm around the brunettes' waist and hoisted her up over his shoulder. The woman shouted in indignation beating on his back with her one arm, her face red.

"SAM! PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!"

Sam looked over his shoulder and down at his friend. "Why in the world would I do that for?"

"So I can kill you!" Kate snapped, glaring back up at him trying to brush her hair out of her face. When he didn't reply she pushed herself up to look at the people watching them. "HEY! How about a little back up over here?" she snapped as the blonde holding her up spun around where he stood. "Whoa...You're going to make me throw up on you... you know how I feel about heights!" The brunette yelped again but a steady hand came out to stop Sam from spinning around.

The blonde sniper looked over his shoulder at Wordy who was looking at Kate with concern. "She doesn't look to good..." Wordy muttered taking in the woman's thankful expression.

"He's just being a jerk." Kate growled holding onto Wordy's arm for dear life, in case the blonde started spinning again. Fortunately for her Sam shifted around setting both of her feet on the ground.

"Happy now?" he laughed taking in Kate's haggard appearance.

"Ecstatic." She snapped removing her hand from Wordy's arm she reached out to punch him on the shoulder.

Sam winced; he had forgotten how hard she could hit. "You better watch it Kate, I can arrest you for assaulting a police officer." he joked.

"And what exactly are you going to cuff my arm to genius? My foot?" The brunette gave him a flat look before looking up at the taller man who had rescued her... sort of. "Which one is this?"

'Which one?' Wordy raised an eyebrow. "Kevin Wordsworth."

"Oh, Wordy! You're the guy who has all the girl kids aren't you? Kind of like an inverted Kessler!" Kate grinned before pointing behind Sam. "And which one is he?"

The blonde turned seeing the rest of his team mates coming up behind him. 'Crap, so much for getting her away from them.' Sam shook his head. "Come on Kate, why don't we just go-"

"Wait, this is Kate?" Wordy smirked. "The same Kate Wagner that wrote us those letters?"

Brown eyes gleamed with delight. "The one and only," She laughed. "I'm glad you liked them."

Sam glared at the older man for even daring to bring the subject up.

"They were great." Spike laughed coming up on Wordy's side. "An in-depth look at our resident Samtastic, It was hilarious."

Kate grinned pointing at him. "Spike right?" He nodded as she held out her left hand. "Sorry about the left hand but it's great to finally meet you." When she let go the brown haired woman turned to the two bald men beside Spike.

Ed nodded at her extending his own hand. "Ed Lane, Team leader, this is Sergeant Gregory Parker our negotiator." He motioned to his friend next to him who smiled at her.

"Nice to finally meet you, Miss Wagner." Parker stated.

Spike grinned like a child at Christmas. "And that's Lou over there and our very own Jules next to him." He pointed to each of them in turn.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam watched Kate look the other woman over a few times, a smirk matching Spikes on her face. A deep feeling of dread settled over the blonde as Kate opened her mouth. "So do you guys have time for a drink or do you have plans already?"

Looking around at the shrugging shoulders Ed nodded. "I think we have time for a few beers."

Sam gave his forehead a mental slap and turned heading for his bike.

"Where are you going?" Kate frowned watching him.

"Home."

Thin brows raised mockingly. "Oh? Well, if you're sure then." she shrugged. "But if you're not there, nothings going to stop me from telling them all of the horror stories I have stored away in my brain." Sam froze. "I guess the only thing I can tell all the boys back in K-Bar will be of the comedic expressions on their faces when I tell them about that play set in-"

The team watched in amusement as Sam whipped back around reaching his hand into Kate's pocket taking out her keys. "I'm coming already. Let's go. "

Kate smiled. "Great." She grabbed Ed's arm. "We can take two vehicles. Ed and the girl can ride with us."

"Whatever." Sam muttered throwing his bag into the back of the red truck before heading to the drivers side door wrenching it open.

XxX

Greg slid into the passengers side of Wordy's van as Spike and Lou climbed into the back. "So what do you make of Kate?"

"I like her already." Spike muttered as he and Lou exchanged devious looks that told the older two in the front they'd be coming across some good blackmail material soon.

"She certainly can get under Sam's skin." Wordy chuckled as he pulled out behind the red truck. "Not much can usually do that."

XxX

"So what happened to the noise in your engine?"

"Jevan fixed it." Kate muttered digging though the glove box and pulling out a little tin of lip balm.

"Why didn't you just get a new truck?" Sam asked taking the tin from the brunette almost on reflex not taking his eyes from the road. From the backseat Ed and Jules watched as the blonde took the lid off and held it back out for Kate, who had flipped down her visor for the mirror. It was like watching a well practiced routine as the other woman smeared the stuff on her lips before Sam closed the tin tossing it back at her.

"Can't get rid of it, Jevan would kill me, he's put a lot of work into this you know, and I happen to sort of like this truck, thank you very much." She glared at him tossing the tin back where it came from, hitting the compartment door with her knee a few times until it stayed closed.

"Corporal Wagner, are you actually admitting personal attachment to something that isn't your knives?" The blonde asked shocked.

Kate hit him in the side of the arm. "Watch it mister, and that's Master Corporal to you now Constable."

"_Master Corporal_?" Blue eyes glanced over at her curious. "How the hell did that happen?"

The woman smiled as Sam pulled into the familiar pub they went to regularly. "I guilt tripped Howlett into giving it to me."

"Who's Howlett?" Ed asked leaning forward in his seat.

"My dick of a boss," Kate explained with a chuckle. "Major Mike 'Six-Pack' Howlett, maybe you've heard of him?"

Jules guessed by the shocked look on Ed's face that he had. "Is he a not a good Boss?" She questioned climbing out of the truck letting Sam slam the door shut behind her.

"Oh the idiots not too bad of a boss," Kate started coming around to the front of the truck stepping up in beside Greg. "He's just…" She struggled for the right word before she looked at Sam. "How would you describe him? You've known him longer."

Sam shook his head as the large group made their way inside. "He's the kind of boss you don't want as a boss." He muttered. "We'll just leave it at that."

Greg looked at Ed as they were the last two to enter. "Who are they talking about?"

The lead sniper mouth hung open a bit. "Major Howlett." He watched brown eyes widen.

"The same Major Howlett that took command of a band of guys out east after their Captain was killed and led them for two days through a forest?" Greg asked surprised.

Kate slid up next to them holding three beers in her hand. "Actually he didn't, he was unconscious most of the trip." She laughed passing one to each of them. "But Disraeli was too nice to say anything about it, so the shit head got all the glory." As quickly as she showed up, the brunette was gone again, back to the table laughing with Wordy and Jules.

XxX

It was late now.

One…maybe two o'clock in the morning.

It was actually pretty amazing they hadn't been kicked out yet. But then again Kate had been ordering things to drink left and right, that the bar owner had probably made enough money to last him a month. Ed and Wordy had left first, Greg soon after and Spike and Lou had left about an hour after them with Jules having left half an hour later.

Now, Sam sat, slouched in his seat, twirling an empty glass between his fingers, quite please with himself that he had kept any of the really horrible stories from getting out. "So,"

"So?" Kate repeated from her spot, head down on the table across from him.

"Why are you home early?"

"I told you, Six-Pack let us go when I-"

**"Kate**."

The woman paused lifting her head up to glare at him. Too tired to hold her own head up for any length of time she set her chin on the table looking at his solid glare through an empty beer bottle.

"Your own rule K, don't bullshit me." Sam stated.

Kate sighed. "Two days ago we hit an IED. Howls thought it affected me badly and sent me home." Sam could easily hear the hatred in her voice. "We lost Carson and half of Dupuis."

The blonde grimaced. "Nothing on the news about them."

"Of course not." She spat. "Never is, because we're '_Special Forces'_. We're the ones who don't exist unless we have orders to collect."

Sam ran the back of his hand across his forehead nodding before he slowly climbed to his feet and went around hauling Kate up too. "Alright, it's time to sleep, you've had enough alcohol that the dreams should stay away tonight."

Kate pouted as she straightened causing the room to start spinning around her. "Just tonight though…doesn't help tomorrow."

* * *

And, that's all for now, I'll likely post more in a couple or days.

On a side note, here's some things you should know about Kate. She has brown hair, brown eyes, is pretty short… shorter temper...even shorter capacity for mercy. She's a knife person, preferring them over guns even with just one arm; has a tendency to run into situations without planning. Also, she has the great ability to speak without taking into account others feelings (she's very harsh) and it has earned her a lot of enemies. And as mentioned in the chapter… hates her boss.


	3. Explosive Discussions

Sadly, I still do not own Flashpoint or Sam… but I do still own Kate and characters you don't recognize.

Kate- "You do not own me!"

Sakari- "Shut up you idiot."

Kate- "Hey, look-it, you find out how I lost my arm in this chapter… which I swear are getting shorter and shorter.

Sakari- "Leave me alone..."

* * *

"Kate, as much experience you have in the field I don't think the Sarge is going to let you tag along if we get a call." Sam sighed as he walked through the doors of the SRU building.

Kate strode beside him with a huff. "Why not? It's a good learning experience. He should be happy to pass on his knowledge to other people."

"Other people who will absorb it and put it to actual use, K."

The brunette puffed out her cheeks before spotting Ed across the room. "Well, we'll see." She broke away from him and made her way over to the bald man who was talking with Spike. "Hey Eddie."

The team leader started at the familiar nickname calling him in an unfamiliar voice. Turning to see an annoyed Kate behind him Ed cocked his head to the side. "Ah, Miss Wagner, welcome back. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Would it be alright if I tagged along with you guys today?" She raised a hand before he could speak. "I just want to see what you guys do on a regular basis." She took in Ed's unsure expression before her shoulders sagged. "I want to know if this job is right for Sam, please?"

Blue eyes blinked, thinking to him self. "Well, if you can clear it with Holleran then I suppose it should be okay, But you'd be following mine and Parker's orders."

Kate barely let the smile show on her lips as she squealed inside for joy as Ed led her towards the Commanders office. "Thank you!"

XxX

"Thanks Normy!" Kate let the door to the older man's office close behind her.

Beside her Ed watched with Jules by his side as the woman let out a silent maniacal laugh before realizing she had an audience.

"So, he said yes." Kate smiled settling down.

Jules smirked. "We kind of gathered." The SRU woman turned towards the stairs. "I think there's an extra uniform in my locker room you can use. Come on."

The brunette nodded following after her.

XxX

As Jules entered the large metal room she strode over to the locker next to hers to pull out the folded up gray uniform and pass it to Kate. When she saw the other woman standing in the doorway looking around wide eyed, Jules paused. "Something wrong?"

Kate looked back over to her shaking her head shrugging her jacket off. "No…" she muttered. "But…this room is huge."

Jules glanced around. 'Huge and empty.' She added to herself.

"We don't have anything like this over in the sands." The one armed woman stated cutting off Jules line of thought, slipping off her shirt and Jules tried not to stare at the numerous scars covering the right side of her body.

"Oh? Is it much smaller?"

"Are you kidding me?" Kate grimaced. "There are even fewer female army personal in the JTF-2 then there are in this room." She paused. "Well… actually, there's just the two of us, so we usually just get changed wherever. Even if we were to change in a different room one of the guys is likely to walk right in anyway."

Jules pulled her hair back into a braid. That explained Sam's habit of walking in on her when she was changing…not that she minded really…

Kate chuckled sliding on the baggy pants that were a bit too big for her. "So he's done it to you?" she watched the other woman's face turn red. "Don't worry, you get used to it."

The police officer pursed her lips hanging her clothes up in her locker before tugging at the collar of her shirt. "So, you guys," she paused nervously. "You and Sam, you're pretty close?"

Brown eyes narrowed in confusion, her one hand doing up the buttons to the gray shirt. "Yeah, well when you're on a team the only thing protecting you is each other." Jules looked up at the words Sam had spoken to her when she had confronted him about his friend's death. Suicide, she reminded herself as Kate continued. "And that counts for a lot when you're in the middle of a forest or going into a city of sand that's been so repressed they won't even look at you unless it's to shoot you…when you follow people into those kind of situations every day and night, when you spend that kind of time together. You get close."

The room was silent except for the low hum of the lights above them.

"Can I ask you something?"

Kate looked over at Jules as she tried to tie her hair back. "Sure."

Jules let her gaze fall to the floor. "When you wrote us those letters…your last one,"

"'Don't break his heart or we'll break you?' " Kate quoted trying to wrap the band in her hand around her hair. "What about it?"

"Why send me something like that?" she asked taking the elastic from the other woman.

"Because," The army officer stated, tilting her head back as Jules successfully pulled her hair back off her face. "You're exactly the kind of woman Sam is looking for." She winced as Jules hand twitched.

"I am?" She asked aloud, while her brain screamed at her that a good type for Sam would be one that wouldn't break up with him for a job.

"Of course, you're hard working, stubborn, loyal, from what I just saw pretty well endowed," Kate laughed as Jules let her hair go. "You stand up for what you want. Sam doesn't want some pretty little thing to just hang off his side like arm candy or an accessory. He always said to me that he wanted a woman that would be beside him, you know, through thick and thin and all that."

Jules felt her throat tighten at the other woman's words.

"But I mean whatever right, He was pretty sure he was going to be dead by thirty when we were over in the sands so it's not like he should be looking to settle down." Kate shook her head before going over to the mirror not seeing Jules freeze as she inspected her hairdo. "You know it's been almost forever since my hairs been up like this."

Jules raised an eyebrow. "Why?" she knew the answer right after she asked.

Kate held up her only hand. "Damn, near impossible to do with one hand." She laughed. Flinging her arm over Jules shoulder the two made their way to the door. "So has Sammy ever told you about his ever so lovely nickname he had when we were in Basic training?"

XxX

Sam looked up in shock as Jules and Kate walked out of the woman's locker room laughing with each other and he almost dropped the cup of coffee in his hand when he saw the gray uniform Kate was wearing. Turning to face Ed who exited behind him Sam glared. "You said she could?"

The team leader shrugged. "I told her to ask the Commander. He said yes, and who am I to go against his orders?"

If it wasn't so unprofessional in front of his boss Sam would have smacked his forehead. 'Oh yes, lets ask Holleran, the guy is a push over when it comes to his god-daughter. This day just got ten times longer.'

Ed watched amused as Sam hid the annoyed expression on his face before the two made their way towards the briefing room where the others were waiting.

XxX

"It's so weird wearing gray instead of green or beige all the time." Kate muttered looking at her reflection in the window that overlooked the city.

"It's even weirder not seeing you in it." Sam stated coming up beside her right side and grabbing the empty sleeve. Using the pin in his hand he folded the arm of the jacket up until it wouldn't be in the way. "There, that good?"

Kate swung her shoulder and nodded when the pin didn't come off. "Yeah, that's great thanks." She held the sleeve up with a smile turning around to take a seat next to Lou. "It's nice having somebody else get it straight. Usually I just tie it in a knot and go."

The man sitting next to her glanced at the sleeve with a raised eyebrow. "What happened to your arm anyway, if you don't mind me asking?" Lou asked.

Kate smiled. "I don't mind you asking as long as you don't mind me not answering."

Sam glared at her as she smiled innocently back at him. "You've wanted to say that for a while haven't you?"

"Yeah, ever since Rob said it to me." The brunette nodded before leaning on the table to look at Lou and Spike who had sat next to his friend. "It happened about a year ago, our dick of a boss was having trouble getting an okay for us to move into a situation." on her other side Sam snorted under his breath. "We went in after two hours of waiting, but instead of our target...what we found was a trap."

Jules felt Sam stiffen in his seat across from her, looking over at the blonde she frowned. "What kind of trap?"

"The booby trap kind," Hazel eyes narrowed at the question. "High EOF, Howlett told us to retreat, and for once in our miserable lives, we listened to the idiot."

'Sure showed us...' Sam thought to himself looking out the window as Kate continued.

"We turn and ran out back across the dessert. I had my sister's hand in mine, going as fast as we could. None of us even realized the ground was littered with them until she took her foot off of it. The next thing I know I'm on the ground, bleeding, half a leg, no arm and no sister." Kate paused. "The thing about landmines and IED's is that they're tricky little bastards. When you're running you don't know you stepped on one until its too late...I always wonder if Lee even had time to register what happened."

Sam glanced around the room, at Ed's slack jaw and Spikes deer in the headlights expression. Parker wore a sad understanding look and Jules had her eyes downcast. He remembered the day well.

* * *

_Sam saw Matt running ahead of him, next to him Dave and another man with white hair were coming up quickly on his side. Behind them bullets rained down into the sand. His boots pounded heavily against the dessert floor as he slid behind a large rock, the white haired man collapsing onto his back beside him, not a second later. "This is working out well!" Sam shouted as he saw Matt throw himself against a blonde woman the two crashing down behind a sand wall. _

_The man next to him growled under his breath. "No shit! When I get my hands on Howlett I'm going to fucking-" he was cut off as another cascade of ammunition came over them. _

_"Shit... Rob! Where are Kate and Lee?!" Sam flipped onto his stomach lifting his rifle up and around the corner of the rock. He managed to take out two of the men firing at them before a few too close shots made Rob pull him back to safety. _

_"Over there!" The white haired man shouted pointing to another rock where two brown haired women where huddled behind it. They watched as the shorter woman sat up signalling to Sam and Rob. "Got that?" _

_Sam nodded passing his rifle to Rob before getting ready to run. With a quick wave of Rob's hand Sam shot out from behind the rock towards his two friends. His heart beat quickly, adrenaline fuelling him to keep ahead of the shots fired at him. The blonde fell to his knees next to Kate, behind the other rock, as the woman kept her hands around her sister's arm where blood seeped out of a bullet wound. "You guys alright?" _

_Lee looked up at him her eyes flashing. "Oh plenty fine! What the fuck is going on!"_

_The blonde grimaced as he pulled the strap off his side bag which he promptly threw to the side. Using the strap he fixed it around Lee's arm. "No idea, we'll find out later." He tied it off and Kate removed her hands to pull her sister to her feet. "We have to get to Matt. If we can get to the wall we should be fine." Sam stated waiting for Rob's sign again._

_"Oh Howlett's going to pay for this." Lee hissed as she crouched next to Sam who just chuckled._

_"Go!" _

_The three of them were running before the word even left Sam's mouth. Kate had a death grip on Lee's hand as her older sibling lagged a bit behind. None of them noticed that they weren't behind shot at as they ran but it was the least of their worries as Lee froze. Kate jerked to a stop but the momentum from their pace had her tugging on her sisters arm, pulling her forward. Lee gasped as she stumbled, her foot moving. The last sound the two heard before a large explosion knocked both Sam and Kate off their feet._

* * *

"Wow, you sure know how to shut everybody up."

Kate glared at Sam. "Not on purpose." Her brown eyes went wide for a moment as a wicked grin crossed her face. "Speaking of making people shut up, guess how I managed to make the Doc stop yammering during one of those CT scan thingy's he likes to run all the time."

Sam raised an eyebrow setting his pen down. "I'm almost scared to ask." He leaned back in his seat to stare at the brunette as she pushed off the table.

"I'm actually surprised you didn't see it last night when I was changing." Kate muttered undoing her gray shirt.

Spike choked on the piece of gum he had just popped into his mouth and Jules eyes snapped up to look at the blonde across from her. But Sam's expression didn't change as he watched Kate pull at the shoulder of her black t-shirt.

Blue eyes narrowed as slim fingers poked at a spot on her shoulder letting Sam and the others see a small square patch of skin stick out. "What is that?"

The military woman smiled. "You remember that necklace Lee had? The one she got from Rob for her birthday when we were in Alberta?"

"The scrabble tile one-" Sam jerked back, a look of horror on his face. "Oh my god, Kate! That's disgusting." he stated as Kate fixed her clothes. "How did that end up inside of you? And why didn't Doc take it out?"

Kate shrugged looking at Greg's face as the older man watched the two with fascination. "I'm guessing when the mine went off it somehow lodged inside on me?" The brunette took the seat next to spike shifting until her shirt sat right. "Doc Disraeli never said anything about it until about a couple of months ago. It's actually kind of nice."

Wordy looked at the woman. "How is it kind of nice?" he asked.

She smiled back at him. "Cause now I'll always have a piece of my sister with me."

The father nodded in understanding, still a bit disturbed but he wasn't one to judge.

Sam just shook his head looking out the window once more not saying anything.

His old friend glared at him with a teasing smirk. "Oh don't give me that look, you're just jealous because I have something of Lee's inside of me but you don't have anything of Matt inside you."

When the room froze Ed and Greg turned to look at their rookie who was glaring silently out the window. The rest of the team were watching the two with confusion. They didn't know what had happened.

Kate blinked. "Whoa...that was like the worst possible thing to say." she grimaced. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not." The blonde stated simply.

"You're right, I'm not, so stop sulking about it and we can all move on with our day."

Ed winced at the harsh tone in Kate's voice, matched only by the mean words she spoke. "I don't really think that-" He was cut off by Kira's voice over the intercom.

"Team one! Gear up. Hot call!"

Kate looked around as everyone got to their feet. "Oh, are we moving out?"

Spike was beside her, pulling the woman with him as they reached the weapons cage. "For a lack of better term, yes." He looked at Greg with a smile. "You should let her stick with me."

A gloved hand reached out as Sam broke Spikes grip on her arm. "No. I may be pretty good with a lot of things, but you and Kate spending any amount of time together scares the living crap out of me."

The Italian pouted. "But I really wanted to ask her about the monkey thing."

Kate grinned as she slid on a vest looking at Spike. "When we were in Mad-"

Sam clamped a hand over her mouth. "We're not telling him about that story. Ever." he warned but as he turned away Kate mouthed the word 'later' to the dark haired man causing Spike to grin.

* * *

… I think I have a faint recollection of where this story might be heading. Possibly anyway.

I always figured Sam had had a few bad run-in's with IED's and Landmines based on a few episodes I've seen. So I tied it in with Kate for fun. If any of the characters seem a little off it's because it's super late, I don't have a beta (except for my computer) and I'm super tired after work. Sorry.

Thanks for reading!


	4. Not How We Do Things

_**Disclaimer:**__ Trust me, If I owned Flashpoint, you'd know… the whole world would know. _

I'm sooo Sorry about how long it took me to write this chapter… I realized something though… I can't write negotiations very well. So when you read it and notice the lack of, that's why.

Also, the science-y part of this chapter was curtsey of the inter-web. These actual events may or may not happen but they did for this story. Thanks for sticking with me for so long and I hope you enjoy.

* * *

"Tell us what we have Kira." Greg stated as Ed sped around a corner heading towards the outskirts of the city.

"One male, identified by a witness as Josh Turner," The woman's voice replied over their headsets. "One female hostage, no id on her yet. They entered the warehouse about twenty minutes ago; guy seems to be carrying a small calibre weapon. That's all the information we have, I'm still trying to get an id on the woman."

"Alright let us know when you do." The negotiator sighed as the trio of black Jeeps pulled into the parking lot of the large ware house. Greg sighed as he climbed out shouting orders as he went.

"Okay Eddie, you're Sierra One, Sam, two. Find a high building out of this wind. We need clear solutions people; this is a large area so we need to cover everything." Greg stated as they arrived at the scene. "Wordy, Jules, Lewis you three have the perimeter, Spike you're my second."

"And me?" Kate perked up from the vehicle next to theirs as Sam grabbed the sniper rifle from the back of the Suburban.

"Wagner, you'll be with Sam." He saw the woman deflate a bit before Sam tossed her a pair of binoculars and pulled her away towards one of the buildings to their left. "What a strange pair."

"You can say that again." Wordy muttered watching them go before following Lou and Jules to the side of the building as Greg made his way into the large black truck where Spike and the newly arrived doctor were waiting.

"Morning Doc," he greeted.

"Good morning." Luria smiled back at him and the dark haired woman handed him a sheet of paper. "From the description we got from the witness, we were able to get the file on the man she said she saw go into the warehouse."

"That was fast." Greg raised an eyebrow looking over the paper.

The doctor nodded. "Apparently Josh Turner's been picked up quiet a few times on possession allocations and other charges like B&E's, petty theft, more recently two days ago on another meth possession… he has an appeal going through right now to refute the latest charges." She brushed her hair back off of her face. "Judging by his actions I'd say he's binging again, irritability, aggressive behaviour, anxiety and paranoia along with psychosis, all signs that he's on methamphetamines. Anything could have triggered him to act this way."

"Great," the lead negotiator sighed. "Any ID on the hostage he has?"

Spike shook his head. "Nothing yet boss, but according to the witness statement she did say she had seen the woman hanging around this area before so we may not be wrong in saying that she could be his dealer."

Greg sighed. "We don't know that for sure so until we get more information we just try to keep him calm." Flipping on his radio he tuned into the two snipers. "Ed, Sam, can you two see him?"

He only had to wait a moment before two affirmative solutions were stated in his ear. "Alright, let's see what we can do." Greg dug his phone out of his pocket dialling into the warehouse.

XxX

"This sucks."

"Hm."

"Why can't we just shoot him?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"It's not how we do things here."

"I'm not from here, I'll do it."

"No, you're not shooting him."

"Why not?"

"Because you suck at it."

"Well what's talking going to do? I highly doubt your Boss has that much of a silver tongue that he can talk down a possible killer."

Sam smirked knowingly, the action going unnoticed as Kate stood next to him looking over his team mates on the ground. "Don't go under estimating people again. Remember where it got you last time."

"Ouch Sam, I'm hurt you would even bring that up."

"I'm so sorry."

"No you're not."

"Nope, I'm not."

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

Their radio's switched on in their ears and Ed's voice snapped at them. "As endearing as it is to listen to you two, could we focus on the subject please?"

"Sorry Ed." Sam replied adjusting his position a bit.

Kate just let her shoulders fall as she raised the binoculars back up to her eyes looking around the city. Her breath came out in clouds as the temperature dropped steadily. "Damn, it's so friggen cold." She shivered. "I'm getting too used to the deser-" Kate paused.

Brown eyes narrowed through the binoculars before she lowered them. "Do you smell that?"

"Thought it was just me." Sam muttered not looking up from the man on the other end of his rifle.

"Give me your scope."

The blonde frowned. "Um, I'm kind of using it right now Kate."

"Sam."

He growled. "Ed, you have the guy in your line of sight to take the shot?"

The team leader's voice floated back over the com. "I can make it work, why?"

"Just give me a second." Sam shifted, moving to stand up and unscrew the scope from his rifle. He held it out to Kate taking the binoculars from her, raising them up to his eyes.

Kate moved closer to the edge of the building looking at the large warehouse a couple of lots down. "I think we have a small problem," She muttered seeing pale smoke starting to curl out of a few open windows. "I see fire… and if that smell is what I think it is…which I'm hoping it's not by the way- we could have a big problem."

Sam grimaced not liking the look of the black smoke. Flipping on his radio he spoke. "Hey Boss!"

On the ground Greg looked up from his cell phone where Turner had disconnected the call. Negotiations weren't going well with the man. "What is it Sam?"

"I think we have a bigger issue a couple of buildings down. Do you smell that?"

The lead negotiator frowned sniffing the air and looking around him. "I smell a strong odour but that's it." Greg stated.

"Spike, what's in that warehouse a few places down?" Sam asked his voice becoming full of static as it entered into the truck.

"Just one second." The Italian whipped around to his computer, fingers moving over the keys expertly.

Sam waited patiently hearing the keys clack in the back of his head.

"Uh, it was an old paint manufacturing plant." Spike replied. "But just recently it was shut down when the company went out of business and was bought by well known craftsmen, Damien Du…DuLegear?"

"What's he make?" Kate asked her own voice fuzzy.

Spike frowned reading through the file as fast as he could but Ed's answered first.

"Iron statues. Soph loves his work."

Sam and Kate exchanged grim looks. "We should be fine right…" Kate muttered. "I mean it's not like any idiot would leave things like that lying around and as long as no one starts any _really big_ fires"

The blonde looked down at her. "It's already smoking pretty heavily; I'd say the '_big_' fire's already started."

"Oh…" she paused watching the smoke for a moment longer. "You think it'll explode?"

XxX

Greg felt his eyes go wide as Kate's last words hit him. "What!?"

"Yeah, that smell Boss," Sam's grim voice filtered into his ear. "It's very similar to nitrogen oxides which can be caused by Ammonium Permanganate, and I'm going to go out on a limb here, and guess that's what the guy uses for his art. It's a great oxidizer for rust effects. The only thing is, Spike said that place was an old paint shop which means that the old owners probably had access to Powered Aluminium, together those two chemical would create that kind of smell."

Inside the truck Spike nearly fell off his seat. "And when you mix Permanganate and Aluminium you get something very terrible."

Kate nodded. "Terribly volatile in any case. And it looks like some homeless guys have been using the place as a squatting area… starting fires there."

Spike blanched. "That's not good, aside from the explosion that could occur from the fire, when the Ammonium Permanganate has been stored away for any amounts of time and then exposed to enough heat it is known to emit highly toxic fumes."

"Enough heat… like from an explosion?" Lou asked looking away from the building he was beside to focus on the conversation in his ear.

"Are you sure about this Sam?" Ed asked his voice strained as he kept his gaze on Turner

"Pretty sure." It was both Sam and Kate who answered him.

Greg slammed his fist onto the metal table. "Okay everybody, priority change, Spike! Call on Teams Two and Three; we're going to need their help if we need to evacuate the area! Call the TFD and HAZMAT!" he snapped at the brown haired man who jumped to his feet and raced to another one of his computers. "Ed! How's our addict?"

"Something's got him spooked Boss. The hostage said something and now our guy is dragging her towards the exit." Ed stated following the two with his gun.

"Follow him! Wordy, Jules! You go with him for cover. ! Lou come back here and replace Spike." Greg ordered. "Sam, get down here, I want you and Spike to go check out that warehouse, take a couple of uniforms with you to set up a blockade. Find out what's in that warehouse! If you think it's too dangerous fall back to a safe distance."

XxX

Sam was halfway though packing up his rifle when he saw the smoke get darker out of the corner of his eye. Throwing the bag over his shoulder he and Kate made their way out to where Spike was waiting anxiously next to one of the Suburban's.

"Something tells me this is going to get messy." Spike muttered climbing into the passenger seat as Sam passed his sniper rifle to Kate as she got in the back, leaving himself to drive.

"Well let's hope your wrong." Kate muttered leaning forward as Sam peeled out onto the road, two squad cars directly behind him. "Can you bring up the blueprints to the warehouse?"

Spike nodded flipping open his laptop. "All the warehouses in this area were built at the same time so the layout is the same in all of them…here." He turned the screen so the other two could see as well. "According to records this area right here," he pointed out a large room on the blue screen, "was where they stored the supplies, looks like this DuLegear guy was using it for the same purpose."

"So that's most likely where we should look for the chemicals?" Kate muttered her eyes scanning, almost memorizing the layout presented to her. She was knocked to the side as Sam swerved into the dirt parking lot in front of the building.

As they climbed out the loud sounds of sirens wailing in the distance met their ears. "It looks like the fire is mostly contained to the left side." Sam muttered.

"Lucky for us, all the storage units are on the right; we may be able to get the fire out before it takes over the entire building." Spike stated coming up on the blondes left side looking at the dark plume starting to rise higher and higher into the clouds.

XxX

"Sir please, we're not going to hurt you, we just need you to put the gun down!" Wordy stated slowly moving closer to the drugged up man with a hostage in front of him. The father swallowed thickly as he watched the man press the gun closer to the woman's temple. "Come on sir, I know you don't want to do that."

"Take one more step… one more step towards me and she dies!" The man snapped, his head whipping from side to side.

Wordy stopped moving feeling Greg approach slowly behind him. They had followed Turner down to the back of the warehouse and the man had taken to hiding behind the woman in his grasp.

Parker stepped out a bit from behind Wordy addressing the drugged man. "Sir, please, why don't you just calm down, okay? We don't want anybody to get hurt."

The dark greasy haired man growled under his breath tugging on the woman's neck. "Just leave me alone! J-Just go away!" he snapped.

Out of the corner of his eye Greg saw Ed come to stand behind one of the many metal shipping containers sitting on the ground. On the other side Jules had her gun trained on the man from her spot behind a pile of covered wood. Turning back to Turner, Greg watched as the man twitched continuously, his head snapping back and forth as if seeing things on either side of him that weren't there. "Sir, Come on Mr. Turner let's just talk."

"NO! No more talking!" Turner shouted pushing the woman in his grasp to the ground ignoring her cry of fear and throwing his gun to the side also he charged right at Wordy. "You all need to stop talking!!!"

Suffice to say his face met gravel very quickly. Wordy frowned looking down at Ed who had run over and was pulling the unconscious Turners wrist behind his back cuffing him. Wordy shook his hand in pain, frowning when the man had gone down in a single punch. "Even if you are high, what in the world would posses somebody to throw away their gun in the middle of a hostage situation?"

Greg shook his head as Jules ran over to the crying woman. "No idea, I'm just glad we got away without having to shoot him." Wordy nodded in agreement going over to help Jules with the woman.

"Hey, hey, you're okay, now." The brunette stated pulling the hostage to her feet but the woman promptly fell over, her legs too weak with shock to hold her up.

Wordy caught her however before she hit the ground. Kneeling down next to her the two SRU officers watched as the woman started breathing heavily. They knew she was about to go into shock, not wanting her to hyperventilate the blue eyed male tried to get her to relax. "Ma`am it's alright, your safe now." Wordy muttered keeping a hold on her arm to make sure she'd stay upright. "You're not hurt are you?" She shook her head. "Can you tell us what happened?"

The brown haired woman sniffed as she looked up at the man who was holding her arm her dark eyes wide. "W-where's Damien?" she sobbed instead. "Is he…is he okay?"

Wordy frowned; rubbing comforting circles on the woman's back trying to get her to calm down a bit more. "What do you mean? Was there somebody else with you?"

Brown eyes watered as she nodded. "B-back at hi-s shop… D and I were… we were working." The woman shivered slightly motioning to the man that had held her captive who was still under Ed's knee. "And… and he, just barges in, demanding drugs!" A hiccup escaped her as a new wave of sobs started. "He- knocked out D… dragged me away. S-scared away some hobo's- and… oh god the fire!" Wide eyed she looked up at the man holding her and Wordy felt his stomach drop as he shared a look with Jules. "Dame, did he get out okay?"

He didn't have the faintest idea what to tell her. But she had told him something. And it wasn't anything good. "I don't know Miss," a sordid sob escaped her. "But, I'm going to go find out, okay, you just need to go with this police officer." Wordy hauled her up and passed her over to the uniform behind him. "He's going to take care of you alright? I'll just be a minute." He reassured her.

The father didn't even wait for her reply as he took off towards Greg who had gone over to the truck and was talking to Spike on the radio, Jules on his heels. Grabbing the older mans arm he turned Greg so he could face the negotiator. "There's somebody in that warehouse."

Brown eyes narrowed as Greg set a hand on Wordy's shoulder. "What do you mean?"

"The hostage said that she was with the artist guy in his warehouse, where the others are now." He explained waving his hands around urgently. "She said our subject came in, demanded drugs and when he didn't get any he knocked DuLegear out and when he went to leave, a fire broke out."

Greg's face paled as his team mates words sunk in. "Our witness never left her spot until the police arrived, she never saw anyone leave the building." The negotiator ran a hand down his face. "He's still in that warehouse."

Wordy nodded and the three SRU officers took off at a dead pace towards their team mates as Greg flipped on his radio alerting the others to the new complication.

XxX

Kate blinked exchanging a surprised look with Sam as Parker finished telling them about DuLegear. "Hm… that can't be good." She muttered as Spike flipped open his phone moving away from the two, talking to the HAZMAT officiate on the other line.

Sam nodded in agreement turning to look over the blue prints on the laptop beside him on the passengers' side seat of the Suburban. "We won't be able to get into the building until the Fire Department gets here…" The blonde let himself trail off when he realized the space next to him was empty. "Kate?" Looking up he saw the brunette darting under the yellow tape and towards the right side of the building. "Not how we do things here Kate…" he closed his eyes, whispering angrily under his breath. "Not how we do things."

Leaving the door open Sam darted towards the back of the vehicle, pulling out two masks from the trunk before darting off after his friend shaking his head the entire time.

Moments after they disappeared out of view Spike rounded the Suburban closing his phone. "Okay, I just got off the phone with the D-Mat guys, they said no one is to enter the building or get anywhere close to it until they get- here…" Spike trailed off as he looked around only to see an empty space where the other two had been standing. "Sam? Kate? Guys?" The techie looked over at the nervous looking uniform that was standing a few feet away from him. Giving her the infamous confused Spike look, he pointing to where he had left Sam and his source of blackmail for the blonde. "Where'd they go?"

Without a word the young police officer pointed towards the burning warehouse.

Spike felt his jaw drop in shock. What in the world had they been thinking?!

"Spike, Sam, talk to me, How are things looking over there? Any sign of DuLegear?" You could hear the stress in the lead negotiators voice as he chose the worst moment to speak up…in Spikes mind anyway.

"Um, They're gone Sarge." The Italian stated solemnly his wide brown eyes staring at the engulfed left side of the building.

"Gone? Who's gone, and gone where?" Greg snapped in his ear.

"Sam and Kate. _Inside_."

* * *

No, they'd not actually be able to get inside in real life but I had to make it interesting. My next piece should be up shortly if you're still interested after this mess of a chapter. XD And if anyone wants me to write the scene where Kate takes them all drinking at the end of the second chapter let me know.

Thanks for reading!


	5. Off The Roof

._. –hears crickets- Ahaha.. I'M SOO SORRY!!!!

I know I should have updated so much sooner, but due to some family emergency's the death of my Aunt and my grandmother, both my fanfictions and my livejournal were put on hold for a while. But I am back!

-laughs- That could be a bad thing, could be a good thing. There will be one more chapter after this before I start on a new story. Yay! I already have it mapped out… guess who it's gonna be about? Sam? Yup! Because he's my favourite… next to Spike of course.

Disclaimer: I own Sam. Everything about him! Especially his cool pants… -drools- can I own his pants? Please? It's my birthday soon. I want them as a present. (I own nothing ('cept Kate) )

XxX

"Well look on the bright side," Kate chuckled as she ducked down behind a wall before reaching up to open the door beside her.

"What bright side?" the blonde behind her snapped as a roar of fire shot out of the doorway. Sam winced at the heat, pushing Kate's head down farther.

"This is the first time I've been warm since I came home."

Sam just rolled his eyes at the woman before the two ducked into the next room, careful of the burning walls and creaking sounds as they stepped out onto a metal cat walk. "Do you actually know where this guy is or are we just heading closer to the fire for no reason?"

The brunette paused in a half crouch causing Sam to almost knock her over. Blue eyes narrowed as they watched Kate reach around to her back pocket and dig out her phone. Looking over her shoulder Sam watched as she flipped though her menu, finally selecting the fire icon. "What is that?"

"'There's an apt for that'..." Out of the corner of her mask she saw her friend give her a questioning look. "Heat sensor, long story short; Jevan got tired of playing hide and go seek without being able to win." She held the touch screen phone up to the walls. "This little baby can now withstand temperatures up to 500 degrees; can survive a drop of any height… yadda, yadda, yadda and all those other pretty things that people can find useful in a bad situation."

Sam shook his head pointing to her screen. "There." Lying on the ground a few rooms over was a still figure, its heat signature still visible though the fire. "Alright let's go."

XxX

Ed slammed on the brakes causing a wave of gravel to fly out from beneath his wheels as the Suburban skidded to a stop next to the fire trucks and other cop cars. The team leader jumped out of the SUV, Greg not two seconds behind him, and the two made their way over to Spike who was looking like a nervous wreck.

"Anything?" Greg shouted as Wordy pulled up next to them and he, Lou and Jules jumped out.

Spike shook his head frantically. "Nothing! It's been fifteen minutes since they went in and I haven't been able to get through on their com or their cell phones."

The SRU team looked up at the fire that was engulfing more and more of the building each second.

"Think they have a plan to make it out of there alright?" Ed asked his grip on his rifle tightening.

Beside him Greg ran a hand over his scalp. "Let's hope they do."

XxX

"We do have some sort of plan right?" Sam asked as he patted out the fire that was spreading to the unconscious mans shirt. The blonde knelt over the artist at his feet as Kate kicked away burning debris. "Cause we can't get back out the way we came in."

"That is why God invented Iphones." Kate chuckled, whipping out her cell and tossing it to Sam. "And why I am an undeniable genius …the blueprint image is saved under S.F.S.1."

Scrolling through the displays blue eyes glanced up at the woman for a moment. "S.F.S.1.?"

"Stolen From Spike #1." She clarified.

"You say that like you're going to steal other stuff from him."

"Never know- DOWN!"

Before she had barely finished speaking, Sam had leaned forward covering the unconscious man below him and Kate had ducked behind him as a small explosion went off above them.

"The gas lines are overheating!" the special ops woman shouted. "We need to get out of here! Where's my phone?"

Sam looked down at his empty hands before looking off to his side. Picking up the discarded white cell phone he held it up to their eye level seeing a piece of metal sticking through it. "Guess he never thought to make it explosion-proof?" he quipped shifting the artists' dead weight into his arms.

"Yeah, matches the piece sticking out of your arm." Kate replied back as she watched the sniper lift the man off the metal floor.

Blue eyes looked down curiously at the small cut just above his elbow. "I've had worse."

Kate rolled her eyes, "Me too, you find a way out before my phone died?"

"This way." The two made their way across the room carefully, neither of them hearing the loud cracking and groaning coming from the ceiling.

XxX

It however was not a sound missed on the outside.

Jules bit her lip as she watched the firefighters struggle with the blaze. No matter how fast they put out one spot, another flare jumped up into the sky making all their hard work in vain.

"If we don't get it under control soon we may have no choice but to let it burn through, once it gets in the interior structure of the walls fighting against it is a waste of time and resources."

The female sniper's eyes went wide as she whipped around to face the fire chief who was taking with Greg. "Excuse me! There are people inside there, you can't just let it burn down!"

The older man shook his head. "Naturally we're going to keep trying, and those people are our first priority. But we can't let this fire spread to the other buildings. If we can't get this fire under control I won't be able to get my guys in there to get your guys out." The firefighter sighed as shouts in the background called him back to the truck. "I'm sorry, but that's all I can do for now."

Jules felt her fingernails dig into her palm as she turned to face the lead negotiator. "Can you believe this guy?" she snapped.

Laying a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder Greg sighed. "It'll be okay Jules. Sam knows what he's doing-"

"He's an even bigger idiot then I thought too." Jules muttered throwing her hand up into the air. "Going into a burning building!"

Trying and failing to keep the small smile off of his face, Greg shook his head. "Just trust he knows what he's doing Jules. He wouldn't do anything if he didn't think he could get through it."

The brunette scoffed under her breath, moving away from the bald man, leaving him to shake his head in amusement. She never showed worry well. Usually with anger… anger and yelling. Poor Sam was in for it if he got out of there.

'Not if, when.'

XxX

Kate reached out, her fingers curling into the heated fabric of Sam's vest just as he went to step onto the stairs, surprising the blonde. She gave him a forceful tug backwards causing both of them to crash onto their backs on the floor just as one of the support beams collapsed right where they had been standing.

The sniper blinked for a second staring at the burning lump of wood before nodding his thanks to his old team mate. "That was close."

"New game plan, avoid falling shit!" she snapped climbing to her feet as Sam did the same next to her.

"It is too fricken hot for this bullshit." Sam growled keeping Damien off the floor. "Why can't there just be an exit sign saying 'get out of the burning building this way'!"

"Funny you should say that." Kate muttered from behind him and the two glanced up at the broken white and red sign above a door. "That wasn't on the blueprints…"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Who cares!" He watched as the woman touched the door handle.

"It's still cool." She grinned; that meant there was no fire in front of them. But when she went to open the door it didn't budge. "Damnit." Stepping back the special ops woman brought her foot up kicking the door and breaking the lock.

"That's always your first choice of action isn't it? If it doesn't work how you want just hit it." The blonde rolled his eyes dropping the artist in his grip to the cement floor.

The three of them were covered with ash and smoke Sam didn't even want to imagine how many showers it would take for the smell to go away. Kneeling next to Damien, Sam pulled off his mask and wrapped the strap around the other mans head. The sniper figured the dark haired man needed it more then he did.

Kate sighed heavily leaning against a pile of boxes unsteadily. She really should start thinking before she does things. Probably… 'Oh well, there's always next time,' she thought to herself looking down at the boxes she was using to support herself. Cocking her head to one side Kate frowned.

Out of the corner of his eye Sam looked over at his friend. He honestly liked her… really he did, she was nice, was a good fighter… useful, but it was times like this he wished he hadn't thrown his book at Matt's on the third day of combat training, partly because he missed and ruined his book, and partly because it hit Kate causing her to come over and hit him. But what's done is done, so they say. "What in the hell are you doing?"

Blue eyes glared at Kate as she pried open one of the boxes beside her. Taking a knife from her leg pocket the woman spilt open the bag letting the finely ground up powder spill out onto the floor. Sticking the pocket knife into the bag she brought her hand back to her face lifting the corner of her mask.

"What is it?" Sam asked watching Kate in confusion.

Kate frowned as she sniffed the side of her knife, recoiling slightly. "Sam…I don't think we have to worry about that massive explosion." She dropped her mask back into place and wiped the powder off her knife before sticking it up her sleeve. "That guy wasn't shipping aluminium."

The blonde frowned, his eyes watering from the smoke as he moved the unconscious artist closer to his body. "What was it then?"

Kate blinked almost wanting to laugh from the irony and motioned to the box. "It's Meth. It's what the hostage guy was looking for…"

Sam paused for a second, staring at the fine white powder that closely resembled a fine, ground up, aluminium in the box by Kate's feet. "You gotta be kidding me."

A small explosion of one of the last gas lines left in the other room had both officers ducking for cover; the fire was catching up to them.

"We still need to get out of here!" Sam snapped, the roar of fire dulling his shout.

"There, that window! It's high up but it's out best chance!" Kate shouted over the roar of flames pointing above their heads.

The sniper nodded, once more lifting Damien up as the two slowly made their way across the room and up the rickety metal stairs to the metal catwalk that led outside. "Hold him!"

Kate nodded wrapping her arm across the man's chest, holding him close. "Jeez, he's not the lightest piece of crap around is he?!"

Sam shook his head tugging on the window lever, almost falling over when the piece broke off in his grasp. He stared at the metal handle before tossing it to the side. "Watch yourself." The woman barely had time to wince as Sam's fist went through the glass. Moving his hand around he brushed away the sharp edges of glass, creating a large enough hole for them to climb through.

Breathing heavily Kate passed the limp artist out the window to her friend before following after him. She eyed the rusty metal shingles they were standing before ripping off her mask as sudden rush of cold air fogged up the plastic. "Fucking useless crap." She muttered looking at Sam who was looking over the edge at the ground two stories below them. "What now?"

Sam's hand shot to the comm. In his ear, ah reception. "Spike? Ed? Can you read me?"

XxX

Seven pairs of hands grabbed their radios at the same time, each with the full intent of snapping at their rookie, but Greg got to his first.

"Sam, Where are you?"

'White side of the building, second floor.' Came the gurgled response, but it was all they needed.

Greg turned on his heel the others right behind him as they ran under the yellow tape towards the back side of the warehouse.

Sam grinned as he looked down to see the other members of his team rounding the corner to the back of the building. "That's what." He sighed in relief.

"Are you two alright?" Greg shouted up at them.

"We're fine!" the sniper shouted back as Kate came over next to him. "We have Damien, he needs a medic!"

"There's an EMT in the front. We'll find a ladder to get you down!" Ed stated and was about to take off with Wordy to try and find one when a shout cut them off.

"Don't have time! We're gonna have to toss him down to you!" Kate snapped, hearing the rumbling of the last remaining gas tank below them.

Wordy, Spike and Lou barely had enough time to throw their arms out and catch the man that was just thrown off the roof. Luckily the artist avoided hitting the ground and the three men carried him around front.

"What in the world are you thinking?" Ed growled up at the woman who was watching the window with wide eyes.

"Oh shit, that's not good." She muttered meeting the blue eyes of the blonde beside her.

"Off the roof!" Sam shouted as he wrapped an arm around Kate's waist before he let his feet come out from underneath him. His back collided heavily with the corner of the roof as his free hand shot out to grab at the rusty shingles that stuck out over the roof's edge. Not a second later the window exploded causing a burst of flame to engulf the spot where they had been standing moments ago. A grunt of pain escaped him as the weight of his and Kate's body put a sudden strain on his already bleeding arm. His grip slipped a bit and blue eyes looked down into brown.

"Jumping?" she asked with a wince ignoring the shouts of the remaining members of Team One below her. When Sam nodded, she grabbed his vest to turn herself around before she nodded. "Let go."

And he did, letting the brunette special ops woman fall to the ground in a heap, Sam let go of his already loose hold on the metal to land next to her. He felt the air leave his body as he smacked into the ground and next to him Kate rolled onto her back with a groan. Two perfectly executed landings if you asked him.

"SAM!"

Jules fell to her knees next to the blonde sniper who was grimacing in pain on the ground. "Are you alright? Did you break something?"

Sam shook his head. "D-don't think s-so." He muttered as Jules held out a hand to help him up which he gratefully accepted. The blonde watched amused as she looked him over before she moved next to Kate, helping the other woman up as well.

"You know, your job is actually pretty exciting." Kate almost tripped over her own feet as Jules straightened her out.

"It's not usually quiet like this." The other woman smirked as Ed and Greg came up beside her both looking less then pleased.

"Thank god for small miracles." Sam muttered stiffly as he slunk by the two women. "Where's the art maker turned drug lord gone off to? Medics?"

"Drug lord?" Greg asked looking over the dishevelled blonde in front of him.

Kate smirked wickedly, limping slightly as the five of them made their way around to the front of the building where the fire fighters had gotten some more of the blaze under control. "Yeah, turns out he was part time artist, part time drug dealer. Looks like he pretended to have shipments of super fine aluminium sent to him with the pretence of the boat's paint shop, when in reality," She winced as she tried putting pressure on her ankle, "It was actually high grade meth."

The three un-smoky SRU agents looked at her like she had two heads. Which she was starting to feel like she did, her head spinning from the smoke inhalation. Maybe that mask hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

Sam grabbed her arm and directed the woman towards one of the EMT's, "Come on, we need to get you checked out and then de-brief."

"Why do I need to be checked out?" Kate muttered annoyed. "I'm fine."

"I'm not so sure about that, there's bound to be something wrong with you neurologically for running into a potentially poisonous, exploding building. Besides your limping." He stated dropping her off next to one of the paramedics. "I'll be right back." Sam trotted off towards one of the guys covered in a white safety suit, Jules following after him an angry look in her eye.

Kate rolled her eyes and let the medic pass her an oxygen mask as she let her gaze fall on Ed. "You look angry, what's the matter?"

"What's the matter?" Ed repeated incredulously. "You almost got killed in there."

The brunette jerked back at the hard tone in Ed's voice. "Everything turned out fine."

"That is not the way we do things around here Wagner." He growled feeling Greg's hand on his shoulder.

"Come on Eddie, it's alright." Parker sighed feeling his friend tense.

"It's not alright!" Ed whirled on the brown haired woman, blue eyes blazing. "When you asked to come for they day we agreed on the condition you were to follow **our** orders." He snapped. "Instead of listening to us, you knowingly put yourself in danger, and by doing so you ended up putting one of my team members in harms way too."

"You never said not to go into the building!" Kate motioned to the now smouldering warehouse.

"In a situation like that you wait for back up and follow the proper procedure so you don't end up risking your friends life on a gamble that your going to make it out okay!"

"Are you kidding me?! That's what friends do, that's what 'we' do. We follow each other into dangerous situations." Kate snapped as Ed glared at her. "If I was willing to defy orders and follow Sam into what we both knew, full well, to be a suicide mission, given to us by** his** father, _I doubt he had a problem following me into a burning building, to save somebody_." She hissed shrugging off the medic before storming away towards the blonde who was talking with HAZMAT.

Ed and Greg exchanged looks before shaking their heads.

XxX

Thank you for sticking with me for so long!


	6. Vacations Over

**Well, here we are at the last chapter. A little bit more SamxJules at the beginning but nothing to substantial for you guys. DX Sorry. This chapter may seem like it jumps around a bit, and that's because it does. I just didn't want to end it really so it kind of reflected that with me not being able to write a decent ending. (Also, you get introduced to two more of my characters from Sam's flashback, one I had in the previous flashback Rob, and the other new one in Alice. Hehe)**

**… And if someone could clear this up for me… In Episode three Sam said his friend he killed was named Matt. But in Season 2 'Behind the Blue Line' he called him Ben… Which one am I supposed to use? **

* * *

"So I suppose you think you were being all heroic, hunh?"

Sam blinked at the angry tone, looking at the pissed off Jules beside him as he removed his gloves. "I wasn't trying to be…"

Brown eyes narrowed at him in a glare that would have any sane person running for cover. But since he had just waltzed in and out of a burning building he was starting to doubt his own state of mind… so he stayed put.

"Then what were you thinking? Were you even?" she snapped a bit louder as the two men in white suits were walking away from them.

"Yes I was," Sam replied inwardly rolling his eyes. "I was thinking about not letting my friend go into a burning building by her self."

Jules felt her mouth open and close for a minute before she turned on her heel, storming back towards Ed and Greg, barely moving aside for Kate as the other brunette past by her.

Kate watched the woman go and turned back to the blonde in time to see him sigh heavily. "She needs to relax some." She looped her only arm through his uninjured one and pulled him towards the Suburban that Spike and Lou were waiting by. "And we need a shower."

XxX

Holleran looked down at the sheepish looking brunette sitting across from him. "Your report is slightly terrifying Wagner." He muttered. "I don't think Major Howlett will be very pleased with your actions thus far."

"Eh, not my problem," She stated leaning back in her chair playing with the hem of her jacket she had changed into after returning to the station. Sam had run off to debrief with SIU along with Wordy and she was pretty sure the rest of the team had raced home as quickly as they could.

"It would have been if-"

Brown eyes turned into a glare as she looked up at her god-father. "Come on, really?"

The Commander raised his hands in a surrendering motion. "All I'm saying is, please just be a bit more careful," Holleran sighed. "I don't want to have to explain to your father how you died doing something stupid while on a weeks leave from Kandahar."

Kate chuckled under her breath pushing herself to her feet. "Speaking of stupid, Sam should be done by now right?"

Holleran nodded and waved at the woman to get out of his office.

"Later Uncle Norm."

XxX

Kate didn't even bother knocking as she pushed open the doors to the men's locker room.

Sam didn't glance up from his spot on the bench and Wordy felt his eyebrows rise at the surprise entrance. At least he wasn't mostly naked this time.

"What do you want?" the blonde muttered unmoving. Water dripped into his eyes from the shower he had just crawled out of, managing to change into a clean pair of jeans and a blue shirt before collapsing on the bench.

The woman set her hand on her hip, glaring at him as best she could. "Let me see." She muttered moving around to stand behind him as he sat facing the lockers stiffly. "Shirt off, come on."

Out of the corner of his eye, Wordy smirked watching as Sam hung his head in defeat before slowly peeling off the blue shirt. He knew those two were dating- His smile vanished though when his eyes landed on the large dark purple bruise on the younger mans back and the bleeding cut that was in the middle of it.

Kate knelt down so she was at eye level with the wound, gently poking around it she felt Sam wince as she brushed over a sore spot. "Well, we got away lucky, nothing to bad. Guess you hit that corner a little too hard on your way off the roof. You got a little first aid kit here?"

Sam shook his head, he had taken it home to restock it, but Kate's sudden arrival had him forgetting about the little red box sitting on his counter. He almost jumped in surprise as a blue plastic container was held out beside him. Sam glanced up at Wordy who was eyeing the large bruise warily. "Thanks."

"How come you didn't get that checked out by the paramedics?" the father asked as Sam took the box, giving him a shrug with the one shoulder that wasn't bruised and swollen.

"Got sidetracked." He replied as Kate grabbed a few alcohol swabs ripping them open with her teeth to run them over the bruise. Taking another one she gently, or as gently as Kate could, went over the bleeding cut. Sam hissed through his teeth glaring at the woman over his shoulder. "Ow."

"Why don't you let me do that?" Wordy suggested noting Sam's look of relief as the blonde turned, throwing his leg over the bench to have his back face the older man.

"Baby." Kate muttered as Wordy carefully wiped away the blood before covering it with one of the larger gauze pad's he had stashed in the first aide kit Shelly had made for him.

"Not bad," the brunette muttered eyeing the bandage. "I guess when the Doc isn't around he'd be the next best thing to have." Prying open Sam's locker she tossed the blonde another clean shirt. "Well, come on, we're going to go see a man about an onion."

The father looked between the two, as Sam begrudgingly got to his feet pulling on the tight black shirt before grabbing his jacket. "An onion?"

The blonde smiled at him. "We're going for drinks." He clarified. "Thanks for that by the way." Sam pointed at his shoulder and Wordy nodded as the two walked out of the room.

XxX

The bar was dark as the sun had set long before and the lights were dimmed as many of its patrons had already left for the night. It smelled like cigarette smoke and alcohol.

It was just the way they liked it.

Ice clinked against the side of a near empty glass as a brown haired woman held it up to eye level. She looked at the lights through remnants of the amber liquid inside before muttering to her partner across from her. "I don't think your Ed-friend likes me very much. I doubt any of them really do except Spike."

Sam raised an eyebrow looking up from his own drink. "Oh?"

The woman shrugged kicking her feet up onto the table with a little difficulty. "Well, I guess it's better that they sorta like me instead of the hate-on they'd get if they found out that the only reason I came to visit on this stupid leave, was to try and convince you to come back and join us again." She paused to down the rest of her drink, signalling to the waiter for another. "I don't doubt… they wouldn't like me at all."

"I'm sure they wouldn't care." The sniper muttered sitting up a bit straighter to let his blue eyes focus on the mirror across the room, his back flaring in pain as he did so.

Kate seemed genuinely surprised and frowned at the blonde. "Why'd ya say that? They seemed to like you."

"It's just the nice rookie thing." He tried to assure her.

Brown eyes sparkled in amusement and she reached over to poke him above the cut he had gotten from the exploding gas tanks. "You're drunk."

Sam nodded brushing her hand away. "Possibly."

"Defiantly. You only get the whole woe-is-me feeling when you're truly intoxicated or you just talked with your dad."

"Good to know."

Silence reigned for a minute and for a brief moment Sam thought he'd be free of conversation for the rest of the night. The brief moment was however squashed as Kate looked back over at the blonde. "You know she yells at ya a lot."

Sam frowned as he looked up at the brunette. "Who?"

"Jules. For two people who ar' dating…" she paused, her words slurring together. "You sur' do fight allot."

The blonde snorted under his breath, the sound full of contempt. "We'renotdating."

Kate frowned her brown eyes confused. "Say wha?"

"We're not dating." The sniper repeated more slowly. "She dumped me, for her job."

The special ops woman sat there for a moment longer, rolling her glass around in her hand before setting it down on the table harshly.

Sam glanced up at the sound to see Kate trying to shrug on her jacket. "Where're you going?"

"To break her."

Blue eyes went wide as he looked up at his friend. "What? Who? Why?" He didn't like it when Kate said things like that. Bad things usually happened.

"Jules." Kate gave him a look that clearly stated that it was the most obvious answer in the world. "She broke my number ten rule, so she had to face… the …the" she paused trying to think of the word. "_Consequences_!"

If possible Sam's frown only deepened as he got to his feet cutting off Kate's attempt to make it to the door. "Your number ten rule? Don't feed after midnight-?"

"**Don't break his heart**!" She snapped, cutting him off and Sam fell silent, surprise behind his eyes. "It was her rule alone… she should have followed my letter to the tee."

"Kate-"

The brunette shook her head vehemently, anger clearing her speech. "No, you've dealt with enough shit already! For once people should think of you first and not themselves! First yer dad, then Howlett, then the military and then fucking what's-his-face, and now this chick!" Kate's heel stomped into the ground. "I'm sick and tired of all the crap you've had to deal with without getting anything in return and- Why are you smiling at me like that?!"

Sam smiled down at the brunette setting his hands on her shoulders. "Because Kate, '**you're**' thinking of me first." The sniper stated softly. "Not everybody has to, but you are… and I appreciate that more than you'll ever know, but you can't go rushing off and hurting people just because they've made a choice that's best for them."

Kate went to open her mouth once more but Sam cut her off. "And as for those people, they don't matter anymore; my dad, Howlett, none of them. What matters are the people who think of others, along with themselves. So… relax."

Feeling her rush of anger subside a bit the shorter brunette nodded. Reaching out she pulled the sniper into a hug resting her head on his shoulder and he returned it full heartedly. "So does that mean Jules doesn't matter anymore?" She felt him tense in her embrace and Kate could do nothing but chuckle. "Never mind. I don't wanna know."

Resting his cheek on the top of her head, Sam caught the familiar smell of smoke from their little epic adventure that day. Just one more story to add to the ever growing pile of mis-adventures they had. Mind you the pile wasn't nearly as big as his and Matt's, but it was bad enough the Military had threatened to just leave them in a padded cell for the next few years on several occasions.

"Hey Sam?"

"Mm, Yeah?"

"I want some pie."

XxX

"Okay you get one story."

Spike's head shot up from the table to land on the brunette standing in the doorway next to Sam who had his bag slung over his shoulder. Greg, Jules and Lou were sitting at the table with him and they too looked up curious. "Just one?" The Italian asked looking at the blonde with a wide smirk.

Sam held up his hand. "Just one."

"What made you change your mind?" Lou chuckled leaning back in his seat.

"Copious amounts of alcohol and pie." Kate grinned sliding into the chair beside Spike letting her friend linger in the doorway. "So which one do you want to hear about? The fire story?" She smirked. "Basic training stories are hilarious. Or-?"

The answer was out of Spike's mouth before she could continue. "The monkey."

The Special Forces woman laughed as Sam's face fell. "You all good with that one?"

Jules and Lou nodded and even Greg found himself agreeing.

"So, One day a few years back, we were off the coast of Madagascar, doing a little recon work." She started; but behind her Sam tilted his head back, mimicking taking a shot causing the others to snicker a bit. "I saw that Braddock." Kate muttered as she turned to glare at him over her shoulder. "Anyways, genius here, and Matt were joking around taunting a nearby monkey some of Sam's Tequila… Stupid thing grabbed the bottle from him and ended up drinking at least a quarter of it."

Spikes mouth hung open and Jules looked over at Sam who was wincing at the memory.

"Anyways, Sam tried to get the bottle back but the stupid monkey threw it at him, hitting him right in the forehead before jumping at Matt and pulling at his hair." Kate was having trouble trying not to laugh as she dug out her phone, showing them the screen. "These are some pictures of it, watch Sam dance around after the monkey went up the back of his jacket."

It was safe to say the blonde sniper in the doorway didn't quiet appreciate the laughter coming from his team mates. He turned around heading for the locker room just as Ed and Wordy walked by him.

"What's going on in there?" Ed asked frowning as he recognized the roars of laughter.

"Don't ask." Sam muttered picking up his pace. "Please don't ask."

XxX

Almost a full half hour had passed and the blonde sniper had barely been able to believe it when nothing had happened. After the extremely colourful explanation about what she would do to Ed and Jules for snapping at them, Sam had fully expected to find them fighting when he came back from the locker room, But nothing had happened. However his peaceful moment was ended when Ed opened his mouth and made a slight comment about when Kate was going to leave, which prompted Kate to return with a bit of sarcasm of her own, and then the bald man replied and so on and so forth.

So the blonde just sighed when he had to hold Kate back from going over to punch the older man. She desperately needed anger management classes… or a shrink. He couldn't even remember what topic the argument was on now.

"Okay Kate, I think that's enough."

Sam jumped at the smooth voice behind them. Turning he saw a tall white haired man with tanned skin standing in the doorway next to a long blonde haired woman with startling green eyes. The man wore army pants and a tight green t-shirt that easily showed off his muscles while next to him the blonde wore a simple blue track suit and a wicked smirk.

Kate went limp in his grasp and Sam let his hands fall away as the brown haired woman stopped fighting. The blonde let out a relieved sigh causing Jules to glance over at him. The army woman surprised the entire group when she strode right over to the two newcomers without complaint and latched onto the man's arm. Kate looked back at the SRU and smiled. "Well, it was nice to meet all of you. I hope we can get together again sometime, bye."

Greg watched, slightly in shock, slightly in awe as the angry Kate was so quickly replaced, before she and the white haired male left the room without a fuss leaving a chuckling blonde woman in their spot.

"I figured calling Rob was the only way to get her to go away." The blonde laughed crossing her arms.

"I appreciate it." Sam laughed moving over to her and the two made their way after Kate and Rob leaving his confused team mates behind. "How'd you know she was here?"

The woman laughed. "Well, she wasn't annoying me, and Howlett said she had come home on Monday. I assumed the worse and called Rob to come get her. He is the only one she'll listen to now."

"Alice, have I ever told you how amazing you are?" Sam sighed hanging his head a bit in exhaustion as they moved down the stairs. "I mean I love seeing Kate and all, she's welcome anytime, she knows that, but she's just-"

"Overwhelming?" Alice offered and Sam nodded. "I think when she found that tile in her…it really cheered her up. Anyways all I know is she's been going crazy like that ever since."

Sam paused next to the door leading outside. From his spot he could see Rob flicking Kate in the side of the head next to Alice's car. "You know she said something to me the other day,"

The other blonde looked up at him, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Oh? Like what?"

"She said I was jealous that she had a piece of Lee inside of her." He leaned his elbows on the metal bar sticking out on the door. "And that I wished I had a piece of Matt with me." Out of the corner of his eye he saw green eyes widen. "But you know what… I think she was right."

The sniper looked over his shoulder when a hand landed on his back. "Well, when you're getting a full night sleep and she's tossing and turning with a Scrabble tile lodging into her organs, she'll be jealous of you."

Sam laughed under his breath fogging up the glass door in front of him.

Alice pushed open the other door, shivering at the cold air coming in. "Don't worry Sam; you've got a piece of Matt with you still." She added, smiling and poked him in the side of his head. "Up here, and out there." Alice motioned to her car wincing as Rob got beamed in the side of the head by a snowball. "Um,"

"You should go stop them." Sam cocked his head to the side watching as Kate turned and ran from the white haired man, "Before they break something."

"Yeah…See you later?"

Sam nodded and watched as the other blonde ran out into the snow towards her friends. Turning on his heel he ignored the sound of breaking glass and headed back towards the locker room not quiet ready to face the wrath of Ed just yet. With a heavy sigh, Sam collapsed on the bench careful of his shoulder before, letting his eyes drift shut. 'Ah, quiet.'

Quiet time was interrupted moments later when Spike and Lou ran into the room.

"Did she leave already?" Spike shoulders sagged at the lack of Kate. At Sam's nod the techie frowned. "Rats, I was going to ask her to tell us about that other time when you guys were in Mali and you started that fire."

The blonde sniper shot up on the bench glaring daggers at his friends. "Where did you even hear about that?"

Lou smiled. "She told us a little about it when you were talking to the HAZMAT guys before your debrief yesterday." He dug his phone out of his pocket. "But you don't have to worry about it man," Sam raised an eyebrow watching the dark skinned man intently. "She gave us her cell number so we'll just call and ask her about the rest."

Saying Spike and Lou's exit out the locker room was fast, would have been the understatement of the year. Sam sat wide eyed for a moment before he shot to his feet running after them. "

"LOU! SPIKE!"

**The End. **

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Well that's all she wrote folks. Thanks for reading and keeping up with the story for so long. I loved all the comments you left and every encouraging word helped me get through this thing!**

**Thanks!**


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